spiritstone
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Post by spiritstone on Nov 26, 2014 20:11:00 GMT -5
they are great specimens for the shelf. patterns are fine and looks like fracture free stone. quite a mix of pattern types. Are they washed from another location of formed in place. Or a mystery All home grown produced, no harmful additives or steroids used in our rock. LoL It must of been very hot and uninhabitable at some point in time years ago, not sure if it was taking place during the glaciers moving or before? One thing had crossed my mind tonight. Where ever you find seam agate you dont find nodules or vice versa, any idea why?
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Nov 28, 2014 11:13:12 GMT -5
they are great specimens for the shelf. patterns are fine and looks like fracture free stone. quite a mix of pattern types. Are they washed from another location of formed in place. Or a mystery All home grown produced, no harmful additives or steroids used in our rock. LoL It must of been very hot and uninhabitable at some point in time years ago, not sure if it was taking place during the glaciers moving or before? One thing had crossed my mind tonight. Where ever you find seam agate you dont find nodules or vice versa, any idea why? My coral silicified by absorbing dissolved silica in mineral rich limestone and clays. Seam agate can soak into many materials or open pockets that filled with silica. Nodules are often formed from water leaching thru mineral rich cooled lava flows and filling the bubbles or air/gas pockets in the lava. Your nodules sure look like lava pocket fills. You can often tell by a pimpled half moon shaped patterns on the surface. Montana agates have theses surface patterns if they are not so water worn. I see a water line in the last photo, those look similar to the way Montana agate formed. grayfingers sent me a few Montana agates. I believe he said this surface texture is typical of a mold of agate in a lava bubble. If you see this pattern on your agates then you should be sure that they formed in lava bubbles. i may not have this all correct, but I think I am right.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Nov 28, 2014 11:18:03 GMT -5
Those agates may rival Montana agates. You may have to collect in numbers and saw a lot, or find a honey hole. But those agates are pretty dang nice. I would be on that spot in a New York second. Is the snow going to cover them up ? I don't want to wait till next year for you to post more
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grayfingers
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Post by grayfingers on Nov 28, 2014 12:19:44 GMT -5
Seam agate can soak into many materials or open pockets that filled with silica. Nodules are often formed from water leaching thru mineral rich cooled lava flows and filling the bubbles or air/gas pockets in the lava. Your nodules sure look like lava pocket fills. You can often tell by a pimpled half moon shaped patterns on the surface. Montana agates have theses surface patterns if they are not so water worn. I see a water line in the last photo, those look similar to the way Montana agate formed. grayfingersgrayfingers sent me a few Montana agates. I believe he said this surface texture is typical of a mold of agate in a lava bubble. If you see this pattern on your agates then you should be sure that they formed in lava bubbles. i may not have this all correct, but I think I am right. James, I believe the little crescent marks one sees in the surface of many agates / chalcedony are a feature that is often seen in that layer of the skin. Some think they are fractures, but I believe they were formed that way. Here is a cab from and end cut showing the crescents. Most are more clear, this one has the dark inclusions that I presume were formed with the agate. I think most agates have been tumbled enough by nature to remove most signs of the lava mold. Agate I find in the mountains (as opposed to river cobble) tend to show the mold well. Can't find a pic of a "potato" nodule with the more pronounced lava impressions but here is a mountain agate, similar to a "Yellowstone" but from a different time and mountain range. Weathered out, not moved great distances, little wear.
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Post by MrP on Nov 28, 2014 12:55:39 GMT -5
Grayfingers That cab is sure a nice one. I have cut many Montana stones with skin like that but have never had the black crescents like that. May be one or two but never near as many as that.................MrP
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Nov 28, 2014 14:17:35 GMT -5
Seam agate can soak into many materials or open pockets that filled with silica. Nodules are often formed from water leaching thru mineral rich cooled lava flows and filling the bubbles or air/gas pockets in the lava. Your nodules sure look like lava pocket fills. You can often tell by a pimpled half moon shaped patterns on the surface. Montana agates have theses surface patterns if they are not so water worn. I see a water line in the last photo, those look similar to the way Montana agate formed. grayfingersgrayfingers sent me a few Montana agates. I believe he said this surface texture is typical of a mold of agate in a lava bubble. If you see this pattern on your agates then you should be sure that they formed in lava bubbles. i may not have this all correct, but I think I am right. James, I believe the little crescent marks one sees in the surface of many agates / chalcedony are a feature that is often seen in that layer of the skin. Some think they are fractures, but I believe they were formed that way. Here is a cab from and end cut showing the crescents. Most are more clear, this one has the dark inclusions that I presume were formed with the agate. I think most agates have been tumbled enough by nature to remove most signs of the lava mold. Agate I find in the mountains (as opposed to river cobble) tend to show the mold well. Can't find a pic of a "potato" nodule with the more pronounced lava impressions but here is a mountain agate, similar to a "Yellowstone" but from a different time and mountain range. Weathered out, not moved great distances, little wear. Thanks for straightening that out Bill. I was not sure about those markings. That discussion a while back. I do want spiritstone to figure out how those nodules were formed. I remember you could tell if they were molds from volcanic material. Hope that he finds more to display on the forum. I think it is hillside material that may not have seen much wear from a river.
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spiritstone
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Post by spiritstone on Nov 28, 2014 21:42:58 GMT -5
Thanks guys for the info posted. I have seen the same crescent moon shape on the skin side of calcite specimens. Cant remember if I had seen it on the agate nods?Something I'll pay closer attention for. Why dont you find nods with seam agate? Or find seam agate and no nods? The blacks are dug by just turning the topsoil down to basalt maybe 2 - 3 feet to find all the floaters, like in the pic of the largerer one, the nods are encased in the basalt also. Nothing is hidden James, to hard to find if you dont know where to go and not really any eyesite of the dig site if you drove past. Many back roads up the mountain and mostly used by hunters or kids out on quads. Right now it should be covered in snow and ground frost and thicker day by day until march. I have much more to show you still. A little at a time, so i dont run out of things to post until spring.
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spiritstone
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Post by spiritstone on Nov 28, 2014 21:49:53 GMT -5
Most definitely a very common looking one, find the same here.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Nov 28, 2014 22:08:49 GMT -5
That sounds like the Woodward Ranch. After a heavy rain washes some top soil off the basalt the nodules are exposed, or in drainages. It was reddish in some areas. Of course, nodules famous. Your stuff is really fine. I will sure be looking for them as you post them. I suppose the basalt has round or biscuit shaped pockets to fill. And seams must not be so common at your spot. Down in south Texas where so many nodules have washed to, the biscuit shaped nodules were often winners. They average 2-4 inches. Nice size for the saw. Many washed out of basalt slopes.
I figured the hunting grounds would be under snow. Good that you filled a few bushel baskets for the snow in.
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spiritstone
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Post by spiritstone on Nov 28, 2014 22:37:21 GMT -5
That sounds like the Woodward Ranch. After a heavy rain washes some top soil off the basalt the nodules are exposed, or in drainages. It was reddish in some areas. Of course, nodules famous. Your stuff is really fine. I will sure be looking for them as you post them. I suppose the basalt has round or biscuit shaped pockets to fill. And seams must not be so common at your spot. Down in south Texas where so many nodules have washed to, the biscuit shaped nodules were often winners. They average 2-4 inches. Nice size for the saw. Many washed out of basalt slopes. I figured the hunting grounds would be under snow. Good that you filled a few bushel baskets for the snow in. I should mention the agate sites are all within 20 to 40 km of each other. The blacks, browns and clear are most abundant around. There is a black agate with colored plumes that I got to show you, that is one of the finest agates that I myself have seen or need to add into the collection. Got to look into more info if I would be tromping on claim grounds or not.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Nov 29, 2014 6:29:28 GMT -5
Is there a peak or old volcanic signs in the topography ?
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spiritstone
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Post by spiritstone on Dec 1, 2014 7:29:02 GMT -5
Is there a peak or old volcanic signs in the topography ? Havent seen any peeks, have a feeling the area is in a crater? maybe. I can take a screen shot of the area on google earth and post it for you later. You can take a look and tell me what you may think.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Dec 1, 2014 7:58:13 GMT -5
Is there a peak or old volcanic signs in the topography ? Havent seen any peeks, have a feeling the area is in a crater? maybe. I can take a screen shot of the area on google earth and post it for you later. You can take a look and tell me what you may think. I am google earth junkie. What town is it near spirit ? Just say NSEW by rough miles from some town so as to not give up your spot. Just curious where the basalt came from and general topography. Like are you close to Banff ? Edmonton ? Golden...
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spiritstone
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Post by spiritstone on Dec 1, 2014 8:10:07 GMT -5
Havent seen any peeks, have a feeling the area is in a crater? maybe. I can take a screen shot of the area on google earth and post it for you later. You can take a look and tell me what you may think. I am google earth junkie. What town is it near spirit ? Just say NSEW by rough miles from some town so as to not give up your spot. Just curious where the basalt came from and general topography. Like are you close to Banff ? Edmonton ? Golden... Type in Kamloops BC to Vernon BC following the hwy 97c route between the two cities. To shorten your virtual drive. Go between Falkland and Kamloops.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Dec 1, 2014 8:32:47 GMT -5
I am google earth junkie. What town is it near spirit ? Just say NSEW by rough miles from some town so as to not give up your spot. Just curious where the basalt came from and general topography. Like are you close to Banff ? Edmonton ? Golden... Type in Kamloops BC to Vernon BC following the hwy 97c route between the two cities. I spent 6 weeks in Washington State and BC. Did a counter clockwise from Vancouver to Spokane, up to Banff/Golden, back across central BC heading west. When I was much younger. And free. I came to Kamloops running late on my allotted time. And was miserable that I did not spend the whole 6 weeks in Kamloops. That was one crazy town back in 1985. It reminded me of a hard partying small Florida beach town similar to where my family is from. I had seen a 100 mountains and glaciers and high deserts. Then arriving at Kamloops I got out of the car and felt the July heat. Oh yea. Laid back people. One of my favorite spots on earth. But an enigma. I never really could grasp the experience, I just knew I liked that town. Funny, I was in a rush to go from Golden across BC straight west to get to the coast so could drive back to Vancouver headed south on the coastal mountains. I stayed at Kamloops, and made quickest route to Vancouver instead. I remember crossing cattle guards in the public road. How big are those cattle farms out there ?? Seemed like there were some serious cowboys in that town. Am I tripping or is memory serving well ? Seemed like Kamloops was in the center of BC with a nice river or two flowing thru town. Located in the bottom of a saddle between the rockies and coastal mountains. Like a desert. Low. Arid. Will look at google to see if topography is as remembered, and the road from Golden to Kamloops.
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spiritstone
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Post by spiritstone on Dec 1, 2014 8:43:11 GMT -5
I understand what your talking of. The place or area holds a lot of freespirted people and one heck of a vaction-partydown kind of place. To many stories I cant mention on here happened in those towns. What happens in BC stays in BC okanogen. Cattle guards are all over the place, they roam around from valley to valley. Grazing country and very hot plus dry, much like Nevada. From Golden to Revelstoke is where Rodgers pass is and heading west from Revelstoke is starting to decent from the alpines.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Dec 1, 2014 9:14:11 GMT -5
I understand what your talking of. The place or area holds a lot of freespirted people and one heck of a vaction-partydown kind of place. To many stories I cant mention on here happened in those towns. What happens in BC stays in BC okanogen. Cattle guards are all over the place, they roam around from valley to valley. Grazing country and very hot plus dry, much like Nevada. From Golden to Revelstoke is where Rodgers pass is and heading west from Revelstoke is starting to decent from the alpines. Altitude 1100 ASL. Exactly my altitude here. No wonder they are crazy. Temp of 105F comes to mind, seen on a sign driving into Kamloops, laughed, figured it was not calibrated. Until I rolled the widow down. Got a dose of lowland oxygen and rush of hot air. 5 weeks on the road in high altitude. Then came Kamloops. Can not make heads nor tails out of why basalt is there, and do not understand geology of basalt. Basalt not in Georgia. That I am aware. i just know beautiful agate comes out of it. I see Vernon and 97A. Wish to be there. I see Tahaetkun Mountain at 5244, that's higher than any place in Georgia, guess a mere foot hill to you guys.
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